The incredible amount of effort expended by the National Council in terms of reviewing grants stands out with discussions going on into the night at the AFCR mid-year Council meetings for the few grants that we were able to fund. The dedication of a group of early-mid career investigators and faculty in volunteering their efforts to promoting science and research funding as we all took turns going to Washington to speak on behalf of NIH and VA research budgets was truly the heart and soul of the organization. The start of the JIM (I went from being AFCR President to being the first editor), done in record time, with the first issue 1 year from the decision to go live. And done with a financially favorable publishing contract, which helped provide a profit to the AFCR at a time that one was desperately needed.
Mostly however I remember the many fine people that I got to know both on the National Council and at Slack, who was our management company at the time. My term as President was at the tail end of what I would consider the golden era of academic medicine and many of our members helped usher in the future of science and health care, which if not golden still looks pretty exciting.